This award provides support for pre-drilling activities connected with a project whose ultimate objective is to obtain a nearly continuous, ordered record of the output of an oceanic volcano over a long interval of its main shield-building phase of activity. Only small fractions of the output and history of any individual Hawaiian volcano are accessible through surface exposures and it is unlikely that the interiors of these volcanoes will ever be exposed except by deep drilling. The primary scientific questions to be addressed concern the nature of hot spots, in particular, the composition and origin of the "plumes" they may represent, and how the upwelling material interacts with the lithosphere on time scales of 105 to 106 years. The specific activities being supported by this award include: 1) finalizing the site selection and evaluating permitting issues; 2) finalizing, with detailed justification, the proposed hole depth; 3) reviewing and modifying, if necessary, the drilling plan and downhole measurements plan to insure that the proposed hole can be logged as necessary for the scientific objectives; and 4) determining the makeup of the complete science team.
